Remembering Perry Miliotis

In 2008, the Odenton Heritage Society published an article about Perry Miliotis, best known as the longtime owner of Perry's Restaurant on Annapolis Road. 

Miliotis died on Friday after a long illness. A viewing will be held Sunday from 4-7 p.m. at the Donaldson Funeral Home and there will be a memorial service Monday at noon at Nichols-Bethel United Methodist Church. 

Full obituary from Donaldson Funeral Home and Crematorium

This article appeared in the Heritage Times in the autumn of 2008. It is re-printed here with permission. 

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Perry Miliotis has never forgotten the importance of a close-knit family and a friendly community, virtues that he considers essential to running a successful neighborhood restaurant.

Born and raised on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Prodromos Miliotis grew up in a bartereconomy. He harvested olives, tobacco and vegetables and traded them for necessities. His mother baked for neighbors and helped them with their chores in exchange for other items. The extended Greek-Cypriot family included his grandparents, sisters and brothers in the same household.

Even though his hometown of Yialousa is on a remote peninsula in the northeast section of the island, communities in some ways are the same all over. Young Prodromos attended the local high school, where soccer was one of the main pastimes. A network of road sand buses connected Yialousa to the main part of the island.

In 1960, Miliotis boarded the S. S. Olympia and sailed to the United States to start a new life as an American citizen and a wage earner. Arriving in New York harbor, he settled in NewJersey, where his brother Peter had relocated. Prodromos found work in Greek restaurants, and mingling with more established Greek employees helped him to learn the English language. He also anglicized his given name, changing it to Perry. Then he decided to learn a trade and opened a barber shop in Madison, N. J.

In 1971, Perry made the biggest move of his life when he relocated to Odenton ands tarted a new career in the restaurant business. His cousin, Mike Piera, owns Mike’s Crab House in Annapolis, and together they purchased the Golden Flame restaurant in Odenton from Clem Milash. Perry’s sister, Mary Patriotis, also was a partner in the venture.

Perry’s gregarious nature and his restaurant experience in New Jersey served him well, but the town of Odenton was the special ingredient that made the business venture worthwhile. Perry fell in love with Odenton because it reminded him of his hometown—small and friendly.

More than three decades later, Perry still presides over the most popular gathering place in town. After a fire destroyed the Golden Flame in 1976, Perry built a new restaurant on the same site and expanded it over the years, adding a room for every mood and purpose, including a banquet room, tavern, sports pub, and main dining room decorated with floral Mediterranean designs.

Although it is on the site of such hallowed eating establishments as Jean’s Tavern and Whitmore’s Restaurant, today the building bears the unmistakable imprint of Perry Miliotis.

For Perry, the restaurant business is a family affair. His sons, Kristos and Michael, help run the restaurant and are carrying the tradition into a second generation. Down the street, Cathy Piera and Perry’s sister Mary have owned C&M Carryout since 1973. But Cathy and Mary aren’t the first “C” and “M” at C&M; it was started by Whitney Clark and Julius Miller.